The Silicon Valley Cast Doesn't Do Panels—They Do Improv

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The Silicon Valley Cast Doesn't Do Panels—They Do Improv

John P. Fleenor/HBO

When you give the cast of Silicon Valley microphones, they're going to use them to make you laugh. These are comedy veterans, after all, so whether they're on stage at a comedy club or on a panel at Comic-Con International, they're going to riff. And last night, during the panel for their HBO show, riffing was pretty much all they did—deep thoughts about their craft be damned.

Luckily, they're very good at it. And for nearly an hour last night, Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, and Zach Woods (TJ Miller and Martin Starr were off filming movies) turned on those talents and transformed their panel into one extended improv sketch—repeatedly circling back to jokes from earlier in the conversation and fervently avoiding analytical conversations about the show.

That's probably for the best. Co-executive producer Alec Berg noted during the panel that they had just opened the writers’ room for Season 4 and don’t have a clear idea where the show is heading next, so it only made sense that instead of teasing future developments or offering a bunch of new material, the Pied Piper boys would just go off the rails for LoLs. (Highlight: Making the American Sign Language interpreter for the panel repeatedly translate "butt chugging.")

Woods pointed out early—after Middleditch continued to reference, you know, thatone horse scene in extreme detail—that the name placards for each panelist come with a content advisory that audiences may have people under the age of 18. But this panel blew right past that almost immediately. And it was that much better for it. Coming to a panel for a show that just wrapped its most recent season and isn’t yet in production on the next one puts the cast and creators in a dicey position. One of the best ways to leave the audience satisfied is to generate enough humor to make everyone understand just how talented the performers are outside of the characters they’re asked to play on the show. Performing an hour-long improv game that could’ve been released as a podcast for anyone who missed it accomplishes that without needing to reveal too much.